Refrigerator



(No Model.) 2 sheets-smet 1.v

'L.o.RBAD.

REF.mammina.v A x No. 556,372. Pagented Mar. 17', 1896.

aux; K """"w WM M - 2 Sheets--Sheet L. 0. READ. REFRIGBRATO-R.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAWSON O. READ, OF CIQIATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE.

REFRIGERATQR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 556,372, dated March 17, 1896.

Application iiled August 23, 1895.

To @ZZ whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAwsoN O. READ, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chattanooga, in the county of Hamilton and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Refrigerator, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to refrigerators.

The main and primary object of the invention is to provide a new and useful construction of refrigerator providing for the perfect and complete circulation of cold air from the ice-chamber into the provision-chamber, and also for the free escape of warm air, whereby all odors are carried out of the refrigerator and the contents thereof kept perfectly cool and odorless.

XVith these and other obj ects in view, which will readily appear as the nature of the in` vention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical longitudinal sectional view of a refrigerator constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line ocx of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional perspective view of the drip-pan and the intermediate partition-plate arranged directly thereabove under the ice-floor plate. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 designates asubstantially rectangular refrigerator boX or casing, the side and end walls of which are constructed in the ordinary manner. The box or casing 1 is open at the top and is provided with a shouldered cover-seat 2, which receives therein the hollow cover 3. The hollow cover 3 incloses an interior air-circulating space, 4, and is provided in its under side, near its opposite ends, with the air circulating openings 5, which carrywarm air into the space 4, and in its outer side the hollow cover 3 is provided with a top escape-opening, 6, which forms a vent or escape for the air which is circulated into the space 4, and at this point it is to be noted that when the cover 3 is closed the cir- Serial No. 560,281. (No model.)v

culating-openings 5 are disposed at the upper edges of the end walls of the box or casing.

Arranged within the upper part of the box or casing 1 is the longitudinally-inclined metallic ice-iioor vplate 7, which separates the interior of the box or casing into an upper ice-chamber, 8, and a lower provision or storage chamber, 9, within which latter chamber may be arranged suitable racks or shelves 10 for supporting the provisions within the refrigerator. The plate 7 forms the floor of the ice-chamber S and is of a substantially inverted-V shape, being' provided with a central longitudinal ridge 7n, which forms an apex at the Vcenter under side of the plate, and oppositely-inclined sides slanting toward opposite sides of the casing.

The inverted-V-shaped plate 7 is provided at the side and end edges thereof with vertically-disposed edge-seams 12, which are formed by doubling the metal upon itself at the edges of the plate to form upwardly-disposed flanges 13, projected above the plane of the plate, and the depending anges 14, projected below the plane of the plate. rlhe upwardly-disposed side and end iianges 13 of the ice-floor plate 7 form a pan to collect the water from the ice, and the anges 13 at the opposite longitudinal side edges of the plate form longitudinal drain -gutters 15, which provide for a natural drain of the water toward one end of the refrigerator box or casing, and at the lower ends of the opposite drain-gutters 15 of the plate 7 the latter is pro vided with the drain-openings 16, in which are fitted the upper ends of the short downwardly-extending drain-pipes 16a.

The iceiioor plate 7 is smaller than the interior of t-he boX or casing, so as to leave an intervening space between the side and end edges of the said plate and the inner sides and ends of the refrigerator box or casing, and the vertically-disposed edge-seams 12 at the side and end edges of the said plate 7 are adapted to receive therein the upper edges of the inner metallic flue-plates 17. The inner vertical flue-plates 17 are held spaced from the inner sides and ends of the boX or casing by means of the spacing-timbers 17 to form the yvertical-side and end cold-air flues 18 at-` IOO the opposite sides and ends of the refrigerator box or casing, and the said plates 17 extend downward from the side and end edges of the plate 7 to a point short of the bottom of the box or easing to leave bottom cold-air passages 19 at opposite lower sides and ends of the box or casing. The cold air which circulates downward through the side and end coldair flues 1S passes into the provision or storage chamber 9 through the bottom cold-air passages 19, and the upper ends of the said fiues 18 communicate with the interior of the ice-chamber S through the inlet-passages 20, formed in the side and end walls of the icechamber 8, directly above the upper edges of the flanges 13 of the plate 7.

Suitably supported within the refrigerator box or casin g, below and parallel with the icefloor plate 7, is a longitudinally-inclined drippan 2l. The longitudinally-inclined drippan 21 is also of a substantially inverted-V shape, and is provided with a central longitudinal ridge 22, corresponding to the ridge 7 of the plate 7, and which forms an apex at the central under side of the plate 21, and also forms oppositelyinclined sides slanting toward the opposite sides of the casing. At its opposite side edges the inve1ted-V-sliaped drip-pan 21 is provided with the upturned fianges 23, forming longitudinal drain-gutters 2e at the opposite longitudinal side edges of the drippan, and by reason of the longitudinal inclination of the pan 21 the water which drips into the same will have a natural drain toward one end of the refrigerator box or casing, or, in other words, toward the lower end of the drip-pan. The said drip-pan 21 is provided therein at the lower end of the side drain-gutters 211 with the drain -openings 25, in which are fitted the upper ends of wastewater pipes 2t, which extend downward through the bottom of the box or easing and discharge into a suitable waste-water receptacle. The said wastewater pipes 2G also serve to carry oit the waste or drain water directly from the ice-floor plate 7, inasmuch as the short down wardly-extending drain-pipes 16n of the icefloor plate are disposed directly over the lower ends ofthe drain-gutters 24 of the drip-pan 21.. The inverted-V-shaped drip-pan 2 l is shorter in length than the distance between the vertical {ine-plates 17 at the opposite ends of the refrigerator box or casing, and at its opposite ends the said d rippan 21 has rigidly projected downwardly therefrom the lon g and short su pplemental flue-plates 27 and 2S, respectively, which flue-plates are spaced from the iiueplates 17 within the ends of the box or casing to form long and short supplemental circulating-fiues 29 and 30, respectively.

In connection with the depending iueplates 27 and 28 it will be noted that the flueplate 2S extends entirely across the space between the iiue-plates 17 within the sides of the box or casing and is joined at its ends to such side Iiueplates 17, while the depending flue-plate 27 is shorter than the distance between the side flue-plates 17 and is provided 'at its ends with the outturned right-angularly-disposed spacing-Han ges 27 which rest against the end nue-plates 17 adjacent to the flueplate 27, and thereby provide a construction for completely closing in the circulatingfiue 29.

The long and short supplemental circulating-fines 29 and 30 provide communication between the provision or storage chamber 9 and the space between the ice-floor plate 7 and the drip-pan 21, and at this point it is to be noted that the short supplemental flue 30, which is arranged at the high end of the pan 21, is about one-fourth the length of the oppositie flue 29, in order that there may be a direct circulation across the chamber 9 from the iiue 29 to the iiue 30, as indicated by arrows in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and which circulation will be more particularly referred to.

Supported centrally between the ice-floor plate 7 and the dri p-pan 21 is an intermediate partition-plate 31. The partition-plate 31 is disposed parallel to both the plate 7 and the pan 21, and is therefore also ofthe saine crosssectional shape as the said plate and pan; but the plate 3l, which extends from end to end of the pan 21, is narrower than the latter, so that the sweat or drippings which fall from the under side of the plate 7 will run from the side edges of the plate 31 into the gutters 24; at the opposite longitudinal side edges of the drip-pan 21.

A series of parallel spacing-bars 32 are arranged longitudinally between the plates 7 and 31 to maintain the same relatively positioned, and also to form air-channels 33, through which the air circulates from the :flue 30 to the flue 29 in the direction indicated by the arrows in the drawings, and in the space between the plate 31 and the pan 21 is ar ranged a series of parallel transverse spacin gbars Si, which are provided therein with a longitudinal Vseries of circulatingopenings 85, which allow the air to readily circulate through the air-circulating space confined between the plate 3l and the pan 21. At this point it will be observed that the upper and lower air-circulating spaces located respectively above and below the intermediate plate 3l are open at both ends, so as to communicate with the fiues 29 and 30, as clearly illustrated in the drawings.

At both ends of the apex ofthe pan 21 the latter has connected therewith the lower ends o? the opposite war1n-aireseape pipes 31.3, which communicate with the interior of the provision or storage chamber 9. The warm-air-escape pipes 36 are fitted within the opposite ends of the refrigerator box or easing, and when the hollow cover 3 is closed the upper ends of the pipes 3G are adapted to align and communicate with the opposite aiicirculating openings 5, formed inthe underside of the cover near its opposite ends. Then the refrigerator is in use, it will be understood that the cold air from the ice-chamber 8 descends IOO IIO

through the four side and end cold-air iiues 18 into the bottom of the box or casing and displaces the warm air, the lighter portions of which warm air collect into the apex of the drip-pan 21, which forms the roof of the chamber 9, and escape out through the pipes 36 at the ends of said apex, and finally through the hollow cover 3. Vhile the main portion of the warm air is thrown into the center of the chamber 9 and collects in the space at the under side of the pan 21, it will be noted that a cross-circulation of air is maintained from the lower end of the flue 29 to the lower end of the shorter flue 30, and the air that is not light enough to rise into the space at the under side of the pan 21 is caught by this crosscirculation and carried up through the short supplemental flue 30 into the air-circulating spaces above and below the plate 31. In these air-circulating spaces above and below the plate 31 the air is again chilled or cooled and is discharged through the flue 29 back into the provision or storage chamber 9, thereby completing a very efIicientair-circulation for the refrigerator and providing means for thoroughly cooling and utilizing the air before it discharges through the pipes 36 and into the outer air.

Changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a refrigerator, the box or casing having inner vertical cold-air flues at the sides and ends thereof, a longitudinally-inclined ice-iioor plate arranged in the upper part of the box or casing and provided at its lower end with short depending drain-pipes, a drippan arranged below and parallel with the icefloor plate, waste-water pipes leading through the bottom of the box or casing and connected at their upper ends with the drip-pan below said short drain-pipes, and an intermediate partition-plate arranged between the ice-floor plate-and the drip-pan, and of a narrower width than the drip-pan, substantially as set forth.

2. In a refrigerator, the box or casing having inner vertical cold-air flues, an ice-iioor plate arranged within the upper part of the box or casing, a drip-pan arranged below and parallel with the ice-floor plate to form an intermediate air-circulating space, and vertical flue-plates extended downward from the ends of the drip-pan to form supplemental circulating-fines communicating with the spaces above and below the drip-pan, substantially as set forth.

3. In a refrigerator, the box or casing having inner vertical cold-air nues located at the sides and ends thereof, an ice-floor plate arranged within the upper part of the box or casing, a drip-pan arranged below and parallel with the ice-iioor plate to form an intermediate air-circulating space, and long and short vertical flue-plates extended downward respectively from opposite ends of the drippan to form long and short supplemental circulating-iiues communicating with the spaces above and below the drip-pan and providing a cross-circulation below the drip-pan from the lower end of the long flue to the lower end of the short flue, substantially as set forth.

at. In a refrigerator, the box or casing having inner vertical cold-air fines at the sides and ends thereof, an ice-floor plate arranged within the upper part of the box or casing, an inverted-V-shaped drip-pan arranged below and parallel with the ice-floor plate and of a shorter length than the latter, long and short vertical flue-plates extended downward respectively from opposite ends of the short drip-pan to form long and short supplemental circulating-lines,waste-waterpipes connected with the drip-pan, and warm-air-escape pipes arranged at opposite ends of the box or casing and communicating with the interior of the box or casing at the ends of the apex of the drip-pan, substantially as set forth.

5. In a refrigerator, the box or casing having inner vertical cold-air flues at the sides 9 and ends thereof, a longitudinally-inclined ice-floor plate arranged within the upper part of the box or casing, a drip-pan arranged below and parallel with the ice-door plate and of a shorter length than the same, long and short vertical line-plates extended downward respectively from opposite ends of the short drip-pan to form long and short supplemental circulating-dues, an intermediate partitionplate arranged centrally between the ice-floor plate and the drip-pan, said partition-plate being narrower than the drip-pan, a series of parallel spacing-bars arranged longitudinally between the ice-floor plate and the partitionplate, and a series of transverse spacing-bars arranged between the partition-plate and the drip-pan and provided with a series of circulating-openin gs, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aifixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LAVSON O. READ. Vitnesses:

G. R. PHILLIPS, S. A. STRAUss.

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